


the beauty of the ellensteins

by spinninglilies



Category: Helix Waltz (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Feels, Gen, Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 06:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20384938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinninglilies/pseuds/spinninglilies
Summary: some inheritances aren't bound by blood.





	the beauty of the ellensteins

**Author's Note:**

> after a wholeass month of waiting for ao3, ankh has come to my rescue with an invite (and vassa vv kindly offered) sjjajajs ilyall

Ellensteins never break. Their heels may snap and their pursestrings may be hanging on a thread - but an Ellenstein will never break. Their spines will stiffen with the same well-oiled smoothness and nobility that has been ingrained to them, and they will not break

Eliza knows this. And if she is to raise Magda as her own, then Magda will be imbued in this tradition. They no longer have the family crest, or even a tenth of their previous glory and wealth - but the Ellensteins have never been known for that. So she teaches Magda in the same way she was raised.

_"You are graceful, you are strong, and you will never flee a ball in tears or collapse in hysterics."_

It's all Magda has ever known. And it's what she demonstrates. Magda Ellenstein is never a quivering girl in a lady's dress - she is every bit the graceful, well-bred woman her mother raised her to be.

Sometimes, at breakfast the day after a ball, she recounts the nights events to Eliza. She can never understand how the newest debutante does not feel ashamed to desert the ball whilst sobbing. There is no malice in her tone - only well-meant confusion. Did her parents not teach her well ? Her governess ? Even a distant aunt ?

Eliza listens and she smirks into her tea.

Others are not so fortunate to inherit the beauty of the Ellensteins.

_

The first time Magda tells her what people say - that she has inherited the beauty of the Ellensteins - it is with no small amount of trepidation.

Blood has always been a sore topic. Eliza has raised Magda, cultivated her into this paragon of nobility and breeding. They have spent years acknowledging each other as mother and child. That is established. Regardless, one may feign as much as they wish, but there is nothing short of dark magic that could tie their lineage together.

Magda was born of another woman's womb. She inherited her mother's ears and her father's eyes. She _resembles_ them.

With Eliza, she shares little but blonde hair and slim figure. Enough to bind them together in the eyes of the masses - not nearly enough for either of them to pretend otherwise.

As a child in the country, Magda would watch as Eliza's back stiffen whenever anybody_ (a merchant, a clergyman, even the housekeeper),_ so much as remark on a familial resemblance. It is easy to lie and weave their story, but it's these small details that trip them up.

So Magda has no expectation of a positive reaction from Eliza. Therefore, it is to her surprise when Eliza instead smirks - catlike, a far cry from her usual furrowed brow and perfunctory smile - and tells her that

_"Of course you have. Now sit up straight and prove it." _

_

It takes probing members of Finsel's elderly gentry to find out why.

Her friends, or allies, in the four families have their own concerns to contend with, and Magda is not about to arouse any of their suspicions by asking too much about her mother's past.

So it's to the elderly earls and dames she goes. Not many are keen on talking about a fallen family - but many grow fond of sweet Magda Ellenstein, at the height of her social debut, who visits them for tea and scones on rainy afternoons and listens to them talk, unlike other members of her generation.

Eventually, they are convinced to tell her some things. Not any so shocking such as the details of her family's departure - young maidens have _very_ delicate constitutions after all. Stories of good times, balls the Ellensteins hosted. Tales of her ancestors, that sort of thing. Harmless and entertaining. Magda drinks in each tidbit of the past 

They tell her of the unsurpassed manners, the excellence of the Ellensteins. How they conquered the social code so perfectly that it becomes recognised as their beauty. Physical looks vary, and fade as time goes. The cast iron courtesy standards of society never do.

_"As you have inherited the beauty of the Ellensteins too, my dear." _

Magda understands now.

_

She takes her compliments with a gracious nod and a small sense of pride. It's the small things, she thinks, which proves her worth. The beauty of the Ellensteins is just another inheritance she has, another gift from Eliza.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by how often npc's tell magda she's inherited the "beauty of the ellensteins". first fic and unedited. aLl fLaMeS gO tO hEsTIa.


End file.
